Practice casting plug



1960 R D. HULL 2,955,379

- PRACTICE CASTING PLUG Filed June 16, 1958 ENTOR.

, ATTORNEY R De /-/u// INV ' S es Pate tC PRACTICE CASTING PLUG R DellHull, Zebco Co., P.O. Box 270, Tulsa, Okla.

Filed June '16, 1958, Ser. No. 742,269 2 Claims. (Cl. 43-4235) Thisinvention relates to a practice casting plug for use by fishermen inpracticing casting.

Conventional practice casting plugs are ordinarily constructed of solidrubber or wooden bodies, and generally have metal fixtures to which theline is attached. These plugs are ordinarily used in various weights andconventional designs require a different plug for each weight.

or wood bodies tend to permit breakage or separation in use, and themetal fixtures to which the line is secured may cause chafing of theline in use with resultant breakage.

It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to providean improved form of practice plug which obviates the disadvantages ofmore conventional designs. 7 A principal object of this invention is toprovide a simple, cheaply constructed type of practice plug having nometal fixtures, and which comprises a telescopically connectabletwo-part body constructed of non-metallic materials to which the linemay be secured in a novel manner without tying it to any metal fixtureor the like.

Another object is to provide a practice casting plug comprisingseparable shank and nose portions which are telescopically connectableto form the plug body, the nose portion having a socket defined by aflexible resilient wall which is adapted to receive and frictionallygrip the inserted end of the shank portion. With this telescopicarrangement the end of the line may be led through a bore in the shankportion and clamped be- 1 tween the inserted end of the shank portionand the nose portion grippingly engaged therewith. The inserted end ofthe shank portion may be provided with an external shoulder which formsan abutment to engage an enlargement, such as a knot, formed at the endof the line which, when the end of the line is bent around the insertedend of the shank portion, will be clamped thereto by the receiving wallof the nose portion.

Other and more specific objects and advantages of this invention willbecome apparent from the following detailed description of the inventionwhen read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

Fig. 1 is a view illustrating a generally conventional casting rod andreel showing a practice casting plug secured to the end of the line;

Fig. 2 is a perspective elevational view of the practice plug inaccordance with one embodiment of this invention showing the plugsecured to the end of a line; I

Fig. 3 is an exploded longitudinal sectional view of the practice plugshowing the relative positions of the plug portions and the end of theline just before the latter is clamped between the portions of the plug;and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of an end of theplug in accordance with a modification of this invention, the noseportion being shown secured to the shank portion of the plug.

Referring to the drawings, the plug constitutes a separable two-partbody which comprises. a shank portion, designated generally by thenumeral 5, and a nose porice tion, designated generally by the numeral6. The shank portion comprises a generally frusto-conical body 7 havingan axial bore 8 at its smaller end 13 merging into a generally conicalbore 9 which opens through the larger end 13a of the shank portion.Bores 8 and 9 permit passage through the shank portion of the endportion 10 extending annular shoulder 12 about the exterior of itsrounded at one end, and is provided at its other end with a generallycylindrical socket 16 adapted to telescopically receive the larger end13a of shank portion 7. Socket 16 has an internal diameter which is madeslightly smaller than the external diameter of end 13a at shoulder 12and is defined by a flexible resilient wall 17 which is radiallyMoreover, the combination of metal fixtures and rubber distensible toreceive end 13a and shoulder 12 of the shank portion. Inwardly of itsouter end, wall 17 is provided with a shallow annular groove 18 whichthereby defines an inwardly-turned lip 19 on the outer end of wall 17.Nose portion 6, and particularly wall 17, in cluding lip 19, isconstructed of a suitable non-metallic flexible, resilient material,which may be rubber or a rubber-like plastic or similar syntheticcomposition, which will impart to wall 17 a degree of distensibilitysufiicient to permit lip 19 and wall 17 to be stretched over the largerend 13a of the shank portion and to tightly grip the latter.

Shank portion 7 is preferably constructed of a nonmetallic, but rigid,material, such as any of the many conventional plastic materials, andmay be opaque or transparent, as desired. Nose portion 6 is adapted tobe connected to shank portion 7 merely by pushing enlarged end 13a ofthe shank portion, carrying shoulder 12, into socket 16, lip 19 beingthereby distended sufficiently to allow shoulder 12 to enter the socketand seat in groove 18. Lip 19 will likewise seat in groove 14, thussecuring the nose portion to the shank portion. To separate theportions, it is only necessary to pull the two portions apart, and lip19 will again be distended under the force applied to permit the shankportion to be withdrawn from socket 16.

To secure the plug to line L, end portion 10 of the line carryingenlargement 11 will be threaded through bores 8 and 9 and bent over thelarger end 13a of shank portion 7, so that enlargement 11 will bepositioned behind shoulder 12 and over groove 14. The shank and noseportions are then telescopically inter-connected, as described, and endportion 10 of the line will be thereby firmly clamped between thefrictionally engaged portions of wall 17 and larger end 13a of the shankportion. Enlargement 11 will thus be clamped behind shoulder 12 so thatwhen pull is exerted on line L, as during casting, the line cannot slipfrom between the engaged nose and shank portions of the plug, sinceenlargement 11 will not be able to pass between shoulder 12 and theco-operating lip 19 which will overhang the shoulder.

An assembled arrangement of the parts is illustrated in Fig. 4 in which,however, body 15a has been modified, as shown, to be considerably longerthan body 15 of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 3. This modificationexemplifies one way in which the weight of the plug may be varied,namely, by simply changing the size and weight of nose portion 6. Sinceit thus becomes unnecessary to change shank portion 7 in order to varythe weight of the plug, considerable saving in cost is possible byproviding a number of nose portions of different weights Patented Oct.11, 1960 which may be used inter-changeably with the same shank portion.

From the foregoing, it will be evident that the present inventionprovides a practice casting plug which may be easily and cheaplyconstructed from plastic materials by molding or other conventionalmanufacturing processes; which requires no metal fixtures; which may beeasily varied in weight; and which may be very easily and simplyassembled and dis-assembled and attached to a line.

It will be understood that various alterations and modifications may bemade in the details of the illustrative embodiments within the scope ofthe appended claims but without departing from the spirit of thisinvention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A practice casting plug for attachment to a fishing line, comprising,separable shank and nose portions, said shank portion having a bore forpassage of a fishing line therethrough, said nose portion having asocket defined bya flexible resilient wall adapted to frictionally gripthe end of the shank portion inserted therein, an annular shoulder aboutthe exterior of the inserted end of the shank portion, there being anannular recess about the exterior of the shank portion behind andadjacent said shoulder, said recess being adapted to receive anenlargement in the fishing line when an end portion thereof carryingsaid enlargement is reversely bent over said shoulder, an inwardlyturned annular lip on the end of said wall adapted to extend over saidshoulder, there being an internal annular groove in said wall adjacentsaid lip to receive said shoulder, said lip cooperating with said recessand said shoulder to secure said enlargement against the shoulder.

2. In combination with a fishing line, a practice casting plug,comprising, separable shank and nose portions, said shank portion havinga bore for passage of one end of said line therethrough, said noseportion having a socket defined by a flexible resilient wall constructedto telescopically receive and frictionally grip one end of the shankportion, an external shoulder about the inserted end of the shankportion, there being an annular recess in the exterior of the shankportion behind and adjacent said shoulder, said end portion of the linebeing reversely bent over the inserted end of the shank portion andhaving an enlargement disposed behind said shoulder in said recess, andan inwardly turned distensi'ble lip on said wall co-operating with saidshoulder and said recess to releasably secure said inserted end of theshank portion in the socket and to clamp said enlargement against saidshoulder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 86,786Tellgmann Feb. 9, 1869 100,976 Chamberlain Mar. 22, 1870 1,547,746 GoreJuly 28, 1925 2,164,206 Gits et al. June 27, 1939 2,546,772 Nefr' Mar.27, 1951

